HEALTH CARE LEADERS TO CONGRESS: STABILIZE INSURANCE MARKET

Don't expect reform of the Affordable Care Act to be tabled or resolved any time soon.

Debate over how to replace or repair the controversial federal health law is projected to run through the end of the year and probably into 2018 — and it certainly won't be wrapped up in the next six months, according to leaders of two of the county's weightiest health care organizations who spoke Thursday on a panel hosted by the Nashville Health Care Council in Cool Springs.

It's going to be tough to find consensus on legislation in both the House and Senate, agreed Marilyn Tavenner, president and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans, and Rick Pollack, American Hospital Association's president and CEO.

And the impact of this week's recess — which has seen some Republican lawmakers, including Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., confronted by constituents opposed to wholesale repeal — is yet to be seen, said Pollack. Blackburn encountered many pointed comments and questions from a packed town hall in Fairview on Feb. 21.